Fang Er's proposal excited everyone.
It wasn't just about livestock, but also the mineral resources in the new territories of various tribes!
Moreover, back in Qikou, Fang Er had clearly marked on the map where the mineral resources were hidden.
Now, all they needed to do was extract those resources and send them to Shenyang.
Someone would be left behind at the exchange market to purchase the tribe's necessities and deliver them regularly.
Upon returning, they would bring back the mineral resources and livestock to sell.
These tasks wouldn't require too many people.
This way, all the tribes' worries would be resolved!
With the newly ordered weapons and armor, they could lead their elite tribesmen to conquer far and wide.
The spoils of their raids could then be sold at the exchange market – no, that was selling war trophies!
With money, they could send pregnant women from their tribes to Shenyang to carry their pregnancies, and their numbers would grow!
The more people they had, the further they could fight and the more they could seize!
Everyone could already envision their tribes snowballing and growing stronger and stronger.
Two days later, the exchange market officially opened to the public.
In those two days, the various businesses had tidied up their shops. As carts and carts of goods arrived, the previously empty exchange market instantly became bustling.
In the evening, Fang Er sat in his study, looking at the data collected from the exchange market by Lai Yifa.
Within just one day, new problems had surfaced.
Perhaps they had existed before, but they hadn't been noticed.
The problem was with the weights and measures.
These scoundrels, every merchant had different scales!
The most typical example was the double-sided scale: one used for buying, and another, different one used for selling!
It wasn't just the scales; the rulers for measuring furs were also double-sided!
The next day, Fang Er, along with the First Division of the Tianhu Army, sealed off the exchange market.
Signs were hung at the entrances and exits of the exchange market: "Exchange Market Undergoing Rectification, Closed for Two Days."
When merchants unaware of the situation came to inquire, the soldiers of the First Division patiently explained.
In the center of the exchange market, at the crossroads, Fang Er sat casually.
All the merchants were somewhat bewildered. Led by Liu Huzi, several major shopkeepers came to inquire about the reason.
"My Lord, what is this?"
Liu Huzi's face was full of fawning.
Fang Er stared at him and asked, "I've heard that within the exchange market, the weights on the scales vary in size. Is this true?"
"Uh! My Lord, I'm in the fur business and don't use weights," Liu Huzi felt somewhat wronged.
"What about the rulers? Using a larger ruler for buying and a smaller one for selling, is this true?"
Instantly, Liu Huzi's face became tense: "My Lord, this kind of thing, this kind of thing, this is something everyone knows about!"
A hidden rule?
"Hmph!" Fang Er let out a cold laugh.
"The market is ruined by you people!"
How could there be any fairness like this?
"Guards!"
"Yes!"
"Zhuzi, step forward."
"Take your men and go house by house to confiscate all the weights!"
"I want to see how much these weights have been tampered with!"
"Yes!"
Zhuzi selected two battalions and immediately began confiscating all the scale beams, weights, and rulers from each shop.
Fang Er then had a table brought over.
He placed an electronic scale, which had been exchanged concurrently with the computer, on it.
Soon, Zhuzi and his men returned, carrying bags of weights.
Fang Er weighed them, and Zhuzi recorded the results.
All hundreds of weights were examined.
A one-jin weight, when placed on the scale, could weigh anywhere from one jin to ten jin.
Although they looked the same on the outside, when holding the weights of the same size, one could feel the difference.
Fang Er merely touched the bottom of a weight with his hand and sensed something was amiss.
"These weights have all been tampered with!"
Reaching into his pocket, he took out a saw blade from his spatial storage. After sawing open a weight, he discovered the trickery within.
"These damned scoundrels hollowed out the bottom of perfectly good weights!"
For the lighter ones, they stuffed wood into the holes. For the heavier ones, they filled them with lead blocks.
After filling them, they sealed the openings with molten iron.
When buying goods, they used the ones filled with lead. When selling, they used the ones filled with wood.
This was clearly a case of cheating both buyers and sellers!
After weighing them all, the weights of these weights were recorded, ranging from 640 grams to 720 grams, a fluctuation of over ten percent!
Having done this, Fang Er took out a wet wipe and wiped the iron rust from his hands: "The exchange market will be closed today and tomorrow!"
"In three days, I will have standard weights and rulers delivered."
"From now on, any transactions within the exchange market must use the new rulers and weights as the standard!"
The weights will have a brand mark, and the rulers will have hidden markings. Anyone who dares to tamper with these two items should first consider how heavy their own heads are!"
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, he ended his speech, got up, and left the exchange market with his men.
As for what these merchants would think, he paid no mind. If they wanted to do business, they could; if not, they could leave!
Liaodong might not be filled with business everywhere, but it certainly lacked none.
Furs, wild delicacies, centuries-old medicinal herbs – hunters and herb farmers could gather a lot just by venturing into the woods.
When these items were transported to the Central Plains or the south, they could fetch at least ten times the profit.
Upon returning to his residence, he instructed Zhao Gang to urgently produce a batch of scale beams, weights, and rulers.
Fang Er had set the minimum standard for these two items at millimeters and grams.
This had been decided back when he was in Fangjiazhuang.
However, the units of "chi" (a measure of length) and "jin" (a unit of weight) would still follow the customs of the Tang Dynasty.
After all, he had to deal with various merchants, and being too unconventional wouldn't be appropriate.
This time, however, he had set a standard for the "jin," with one jin being 680 grams.
Each weight would be calibrated with an electronic scale, not a gram more, not a gram less!
The new scale beams would also have a measuring range of one to ten jin.
Previously, such work would require an old scale craftsman. Now, only a formula was needed.
That was the condition for lever balance: g_object * L_object = g_weight * L_weight.
Using this, it was easy to calculate how long the scale beam should be and where each marking should be placed.
While the scales and rulers were handed over to Zhao Gang, Fang Er personally fashioned a large weighing scale.
This was the common type seen in later generations, capable of weighing fifty to five hundred jin.
Two days later, five hundred sets of scales and five hundred rulers were all ready.
They were marked according to Fang Er's requirements to prevent unscrupulous merchants from tampering with them again.
The goods were delivered by Zhuzi and his men to the exchange market for distribution to the merchants.
Of course, giving them away for free was not Fang Er's style; they were all sold at a price.
You could refuse them, but if it was found that your shop was still using faulty weighing instruments, you would be directly expelled from the exchange market, and your shop would be confiscated!
The large weighing scale was placed in the center of the cross street of the exchange market, along with a set of scales and the large weighing scale, serving as a public fair scale, overseen by a subordinate appointed by Liu Dacheng.
Anyone with a complaint about the scales in a shop could come to the public fair scale for verification.
If an error was confirmed, the subordinate would directly go to the shop for a re-examination.
If it was confirmed that the shop's measuring instruments were problematic, then, well, it would be unfortunate, and the consequences would be more than the shop could bear.
"Ten times compensation for fakes" was out of the question!
The shops would be directly confiscated, the owners expelled from the exchange market, and forbidden from doing business in Liaodong for three generations!